| As much as seventy times more water is needed to grow food than for domestic use. Severely waterscarce countries such as Egypt do not have enough water to grow their own food and need to import food from elsewhere. Countries like the USA, Australia, China, India, Mexico and Turkey have made massive investments to build dams and develop irrigation systems. As a direct consequence, the famines predicted for India have not occurred and world food prices are lower than ever. But rivers are drying up, groundwater levels are falling dramatically, and water pollution is rampant near most Asian cities. All water that falls as rain serves a purpose in nature. If farmers don’t have an incentive to conserve water, over-use is the likely consequence and nature pays... |
